“Survivor” castaway Stephanie Berger agrees with some of the online sentiment from viewers that the Season 48 tribes are not “evenly matched.”
After the 38-year-old tech product lead from Brooklyn was voted out during Wednesday’s two-hour premiere, the Post asked her if she thinks her Vula tribe was outgunned physically by the two other tribes.
“There are quite a few college athletes on my season, and I am not one of them,” Berger said. “To my knowledge, nor are any of the members of Vula. It is a tough tribe.”
“And look, you can always make up time on the puzzle,” she continued. “The puzzle is the great equalizer. But Kevin and I are doing the puzzle, and Kevin’s dislocated his shoulder, and we’ve only got three arms on that puzzle. And it is a heavy, big puzzle that you’re trying to wedge pieces in. So it really requires two hands.”
“So were we evenly matched? That’s a production decision,” Berger said. “They decide what even looks like.”
Berger acknowledged that most of the strong people on the season were placed on the Lagi and Civa tribes.
“I’m standing there being like, there’s a chick who could bench press me,” she said. “Eva [Erickson] could put me over her shoulder, and I’ve got, like, six inches on her.”
“I’m looking for David, he’s doing the pull-ups,” she added of stunt performer David Kinne.
Berger revealed that she’s rooting against her four tribemates — Saiounia Hughley, Kevin Leung, Cedrek McFadden and Justin Pioppi — who sent her home.
“I’m not rooting for anyone that voted against me,” she said. “But it’s nothing but love from me for them in terms of people. They’re playing a game. They’re having fun. They’re doing the best they can.”
Berger also confirmed that she decided to play her Shot in the Dark before tribal council.
“I spent some time doing some math before going out there. I had run Monte Carlo simulations to figure out the good times to play and not to play your Shot in the Dark,” said Berger. “The best time to play it is more people voting, more of a reasonable likelihood that you think votes are coming your way, then the Shot in the Dark has more equity and is worth giving up your vote because your vote has less influence on the overall vote and it’s a good idea to play it.”
“So I took that as in the context of Vula, where there’s six of us, this is the best time to play it if I feel confident votes are coming towards me,” she explained. “I had a good conversation with my girl Mary. Mary and I looked at each other and I was like, ‘I think it’s me. I’m worried.’ And Mary’s like, ‘Play it. I support you. If you need to do this for yourself, I support you.’”
Berger’s Shot in the Dark ultimately didn’t hit and she was the first person voted out of the season.
“Survivor 48” airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET on CBS.
